My 2020 was 3 yo in August. I have always replaced brake fluid and lubed slide pins every two years. I have been driving Toyota and Lexus vehicles since 1974. Seems like they have tight clearances on slide pins and they get sticky after a couple years. I am behind schedule.

So, have any of you replaced brake fluid and lubed slide pins on your newish ES cars? Find anything interesting? Thanks.

 

I lube the pins regularly, especially on hybrids.
Also, I replace the brake fluid every 3-4 years. On Hybrids you need Techstream to do that, on regular cars you can do it without Techstream.

 

I believe the maintenance recommended by Lexus says to replace the brake fluid every 36 months or 30K miles.

 

if you're going through all the trouble of undoing the caliper slide pins i'd also yank the pads out and clean the brackets and ears and lube them too. shim backing plates too. basically service all contact points.

if you're doing the fluid, i believe most modern cars require you to electronically initiate the VSC/ABS system since the fluid runs through it. I know back in my 2002 BMW 3 series days it was a big deal and we used to run little laptops with BMW factory emulated software on it to shake bubbles free out of the VSC box. Then you had your guys who did it without that and they got air in the lines they couldn't get out. so just consider that.

you can also just do all the mechanical things yourself and take it to a shop / dealer to bleed the air..

 

After 3 years plus 2 months slide pins were dry and very sticky. Typical with Toyota. I will go back to 1-2 year interval. No need to activate ABS system on these cars.

 

Forgot to mention an interesting finding. Rear slide pin bolts had thread locker but front did not.

 

Did you place the rear calipers into the "service position" to retract the pads during your cleaning/lube?
My real question is how do you do this?

The Utubes I've seen sound like you have to rub your tummy while you scratch both ears while flicking control levers and listening for caliper retraction.
I'm used to the old simple "C" clamp method.

 

It's pretty loud though, you can't miss it.

You can get a high end scanning machine that can put your Lexus into brake service mode with pressing of 1 button from HD or Amazon.

I found this video is very simple to follow:

 

No need to retract.

 

I was just replacing fluid and lubing slide pins so I did not have to compress piston.

 

Great video thank you!
Question: When he took the brakes out of maintenance mode at time Stamp 3:18, was he HOLDING the ignition button the entire time (until the brake light stopped flashing) or was it a single press/release?
I'm guessing the scanning tools for this are expensive but I'll take a look.

 

I have had this problem on multiple toyota's as well but I blame it on living in a winter salt belt. The sliding pins get stuck every 2-3 years and the pads freeze in the brackets from rust building up under the abutment clips. The Honda CRV pads have also has siezed up but are less of a problem.

Hybrid brakes may last much longer, but you still have to perform the same lube/cleaning which might get missed now that the pads "look good" upon inspection.